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Utah pageant winner accused of throwing bombs

AP
1:06 p.m. EDT August 5, 2013

The beauty queen won nine pageants this summer in part with her mastery of ragtime piano songs

This photo released by the Salt Lake County Jail shows Kendra McKenzie Gill, who was arrested with three others on Saturday Aug. 3, 2013, after allegedly throwing homemade bombs from her car. Gill was recently crowned Miss Riverton, Utah.(Photo: Salt Lake County Jail)

Story Highlights

A Utah woman recently crowned in a local beauty pageant is accused of making homemade bombs

Fire fighters say the woman and three other people were arrested after throwing the bombs out of their car

Police said they admitted buying plastic bottles, aluminum foil and household chemicals before assembling the devices.

"They were throwing them at both property and people," Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Mecham told KUTV-TV, adding that nobody was injured. "This goes well beyond a teenage prank."

Gill, who was 18 at the time of her June 8 pageant win, was booked on suspicion of detonating an incendiary device. She didn't appear on the Salt Lake County jail roster Monday morning, and no phone number for her was listed.

It wasn't immediately clear if any of the four had an attorney.

Gill defeated eight other beauty contestants earlier this summer, showing off her years of piano training with a Scott Joplin number and taking home a $2,000 scholarship.